42 U.S. Code § 6231 - Congressional finding and declaration of policy

(a)The Congress finds that the storage of substantial quantities of petroleum products will diminish the vulnerability of the United States to the effects of a severe energy supply interruption, and provide limited protection from the short-term consequences of interruptions in supplies of petroleum products.

(b)It is the policy of the United States to provide for the creation of a Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the storage of up to 1 billion barrels of petroleum products to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products, to carry out obligations of the United States under the international energy program, and for other purposes as provided for in this chapter.

This chapter, referred to in subsec. (b), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 94–163, Dec. 22, 1975, 89 Stat. 871, as amended, known as the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section
6201 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

2000—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 106–469amended subsec. (b) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (b) read as follows: “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to provide for the creation of a Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the storage of up to 1 billion barrels of petroleum products, but not less than 150 million barrels of petroleum products by the end of the 3-year period which begins on December 22, 1975, for the purpose of reducing the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products or to carry out obligations of the United States under the international energy program. It is further declared to be the policy of the United States to provide for the creation of an Early Storage Reserve, as part of the Reserve, for the purpose of providing limited protection from the impact of near-term disruptions in supplies of petroleum products or to carry out obligations of the United States under the international energy program.”

“(a) The Secretary of Agriculture shall conduct a study of the cost effectiveness, the economic benefits, and the feasibility of establishing, maintaining, and utilizing a Strategic Ethanol Reserve relative to the existing Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

“(b) The study shall be completed within one year after the enactment of this section [Dec. 23, 1985] and shall include, among other considerations—

“(1) the benefits and losses related to the U.S. economy, farm income, employment, government commodity programs, and the trade deficit of utilizing a Strategic Ethanol Reserve, as opposed to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; and

“(2) the savings from storing ethanol as opposed to storing the amount of CCC-held grain necessary to produce the ethanol.

“(c) If the study shows that the Strategic Ethanol Reserve is cost effective, beneficial to the U.S. economy, and feasible in comparison with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Secretary of Agriculture may establish, maintain, and utilize a Strategic Ethanol Reserve.”

“(1) the Strategic Petroleum Reserve should be considered a national security asset; and

“(2) enlarging the capacity and filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve should be accelerated (to the extent technically and economically practicable) to take advantage of any increased availability of crude oil in the world market from time to time.”

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